Destiny: The Taken King — King’s Fall Raid Review (PS4)

Destiny: The Taken King released on September 15 and we here at Gamer Professionals previously provided a review for the expansion pack. While we were able to play all there was to play in the game and give a thorough critique of the content, the one bit we were not able to get to was the highly anticipated King’s Fall raid. This was because the raid was actually released after the game’s release and you had to reach a certain light level in order to complete the raid, and at the time we simply did not have the confidence to go through the entire raid at our current level. That time is over though, and we have completed the King’s Fall raid in its entirety and are ready to give a comprehensive review of Destiny’s most intricate pieces of content to date.

A raid in Destiny essentially boils down to six players in a fireteam working together to solve puzzles and defeat bosses, allowing them to gain extremely powerful weapons and armor in the process. You can gain loot every week after the daily reset, allowing you to play the raid multiple times and gain all of the gear that the raid has to offer.

The King’s Fall raid

If you have played previous raids in Destiny and think that you’ll be able to breeze through the King’s Fall raid, you will be sorely mistaken. The King’s Fall raid is a completely different animal than anything Bungie has ever done before, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. It is much more involving and complex than Vault of Glass or Crota’s End. Every player has a role to play in each section of the raid, and if they cannot pull their own weight, your team will not get through the raid. It can also take up to six hours to complete the raid on your first try (it took us roughly four) and it is almost impossible to carry any player through it. Although it is recommended that you have a 290 light level, I would recommend that you would have at least a few players above 295 to ensure that you are able to follow the raid through to its completion.

The King’s Fall raid is not necessarily difficult, but figuring out just the right strategy for your team and understanding the mechanics of each puzzle and boss battle is. Once you understand the mechanics of the raid, it is relatively easy, but because the mechanics are so intricate and take a long time to fully grasp, the raid (on your first run) is very difficult. We have played through the entire raid three times now and it wasn’t until our third play through that we fully understood the concepts behind each puzzle and boss fight, and by that time we could get through the raid with an experienced team in about an hour. If you are going through a fresh run with a team who does not know anything about the raid, it will take at least six hours. This is not a bad thing in my eyes, but it’s simply the reality of the raid because it takes a while to grasp the mechanics of each segment. Once everyone understands the mechanics though, the raid is actually incredibly fun.

The Kingslayer Shell, one of the pieces of gear you get from King’s Fall

The genius of the King’s Fall raid is that each player has a role to play in order for a team to successfully pass through each area. Everyone needs to be able to complete their job or else everything will fall apart and your team will have start that section anew. While some may take this as a negative, I see it as a positive. It’s a ton of fun to learn each role and feels incredibly rewarding once you are able to completely grasp the mechanics of the entire raid and beat it. While the boss battles can be frustrating if you don’t know what you’re doing, they are so much fun once you do. It is very gratifying when you have a team who knows exactly what they are doing and are able to get through a boss on their first try. This is where the King’s Fall raid really shines. There are four separate boss fights, all incredibly diverse and very enjoyable. Each boss has a number of stages to get through before you can deal damage to it, but once you can deal damage, there is nothing more satisfying than completely destroying a boss in the first go around. While you won’t defeat them in the first go, it is a sign that you have a competent team that will get through the boss, even if someone makes a mistake and you have to try again.

The whole point of the King’s Fall Raid is to traverse the Dreadnaught on the Rings of Saturn and defeat The Taken King, Oryx. Oryx is the most complex of any of the boss fights because each person must be able to complete their designated jobs or else there is no chance a team will be able to defeat him. Everyone must also have a sniper rifle or a heavy machine gun above attack level 295 in order to stun him, or else Oryx will simply kill the entire team in one go. Dealing as much damage in this battle is most important of all. The boss battle is actually quite fun, but it can get very frustrating if someone is not able to complete their job, because if not, the team has no chance of defeating The Taken King. While earlier I said that it was a good idea to have at least a few people on the team with a light level of 295 or above, it is actually the gear which is most important. If a team has at least three people with level 300 snipers or above and are hitting their shots against Oryx, they should be fine. When you finally defeat The Taken King, Oryx, there is such a feeling of accomplishment that accompanies it that the four-to-six hours you have spent battling your way through the raid is completely worth it.

Oryx, The Taken King

The only down side with King’s Fall is that there are some parts that are a bit glitchy. While fighting Oryx with one of my teams, we actually had to go back to orbit and then return to the raid in order to finish. Another time one player had his screen go completely black as we were about to defeat Oryx and we were not able to finish the raid because of this, which was completely depleting. These are problems that Bungie needs to fix.

King’s Fall is the perfect send off for the The Taken King with the best piece of content that Bungie has put out for Destiny. It is very intricate, but at the same time incredibly fun once you understand what you’re doing. It is easily the best of the three raids in the game and quite possibly the best piece of content Bungie has ever created, which is quite a feat. While there is no matchmaking for the raid, this is actually for the best; we found that playing with random players always ended in disaster. Playing with friends or people you are acquainted with is the best way to get through this raid with any success. Chemistry is key and people need to be patient with each other. If you find a team like that, be prepared to experience the one of the most involving and enjoyable experiences in all of gaming. Yes, I did just say all of gaming.

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